This report presents findings from a review of evidence on the effectiveness of communications programmes for changing norms affecting adolescent girls in low- and middle-income countries. The studies in this review all examined communications initiatives that aimed to change norms on gender issues, reported on certain areas of adolescent girls’ wellbeing or included adolescent girls as respondents.
The review used systematic review principles of transparency, comprehensive searching and appraisal of the methodological quality and clarity of the papers examined.
Key findings:
- Communications programmes are an effective way of promoting change in gender norms, and have reached a variety of stakeholders with both broad pro-gender equality messages and messages on specific discriminatory norms. These evaluations recorded more changes in attitudes than in practices. Overall, 69% of outcomes recorded were positive, with very little difference between attitude and practice change.
- The gap between the proportion of positive changes in attitudes and that of changes in practice recorded was greater for media-based interventions than for other communications approaches. It was smallest for community dialogue and non-formal education programmes, perhaps indicating that approaches that involve people more actively, and especially stimulate discussion within a peer group, may help bridge the gap between attitude and practice change.
- Longer or more intense exposure to a communications programme usually leads to greater and more sustained change in gender norms. Overall, some of the clearest evidence of norm change took place in long-term programmes such as Tostan in Senegal and PRACHAR in India. Short intensive programmes were also associated with significant changes. In 75% of cases, greater exposure (either for a longer time period or to more communication activities or materials) led to an increased impact.
- There is no quantitative evidence suggesting a major difference in effectiveness between different communications approaches, particularly when used on their own. It appears that programme delivery issues such as targeting and the extent to which messages are crafted to appeal and encourage people to think and act differently, rather than type of programme, are probably more important factors influencing effectiveness.
- Dialogue-based approaches are often important in helping people shift both attitudes and practices. Analysis indicates that dialogue-based approaches that allow for reflection and discussion among peers may be associated with greater attitude and behaviour change than approaches that incorporate fewer such opportunities. This may be because dialogue helps participants personalise messages and identify ways they can translate messages into action in their own lives.
- An increase in the number of programme components appears to be associated with a greater proportion of positive outcomes. There is likely to be a threshold beyond which additional activities contribute only marginally to norm change, but the studies in this review did not provide evidence on this issue. The analysis suggests Information, Education and Communication activities play a helpful role in supporting and extending changes set in motion by other, more intensive, approaches, such as non-formal education.
- Integrated programmes were overall slightly more effective than stand-alone communications programmes – they had a slightly higher proportion of positive outcomes and a slightly lower proportion of negative outcomes.
- Importance of targeting girls, decision makers and influencers. Adolescent girls are important agents of change in gender norms. Empowerment-oriented programmes frequently aim to facilitate girls advocating for their own interests via teaching negotiation skills alongside more factual information. However, girls alone may not be able to challenge discriminatory practices if family decision makers or influencers (such as brothers or community and religious leaders) are not exposed to ideas encouraging them to change.
- The highest proportion of positive outcomes was recorded for early marriage, education, FGM/C and gender relations in girls’ natal households. The high success rate on these issues may reflect intensive community-based dialogue processes and non-formal education that led to a greater sense of self-efficacy on the part of adolescent girls to speak out and challenge discriminatory norms and that effectively convinced parents, grandparents, brothers and other influential decision makers of the need for change. With respect to FGM/C, it also reflects attention to targeting adult decision makers as well as adolescent girls. The high proportion of positive outcomes in relation to intra-household relationships is largely driven by programmes that enhanced girls’ voice and negotiating ability within (and outside) the household.